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CLEVELAND—The Toronto Raptors were on a three-game winning streak, playing in a rematch of the Eastern Conference final and buoyed by the NBA’s leading scorer. None of it mattered.

As all well-intentioned and seemingly strong basketball entities seem to do when they meet LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Raptors were pulled down to Earth at Quicken Loans Arena in a 121-117 loss.

LeBron James’ 28 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds helped humanize DeMar DeRozan, who came into the game having topped at least 30 points in all but one of his first nine games. Tuesday was his second night under 30, as he finished with 26 points on 10-of-27 shooting.

Now at 7-3, the Raptors have lost to the Cavs twice this season. Cleveland held its place atop the Eastern Conference, improving to 9-1. Kyrie Irving added 24 points for the Cavs and Channing Frye hit five threes off the bench, including the dagger with 59 seconds to play, a dead-eye shot from the top of the arc that gave Cleveland a 117-115 lead.

“Some of the mistakes we made on switches . . . you a make a mistake for a split second against Channing Frye and he burns us. For whatever reason we couldn’t get that under control,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

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Casey was in a rush to get out of Cleveland, after the final minutes of a fun, competitive game was littered with questionable calls from officials.

With the Raptors up 114-113 with 1:39 to go, Lowry was called for a foul on Kevin Love. He slammed the ball to the floor in disgust and the crowd at Quicken Loans Arena got on its feet, egging the point guard toward a technical.

Lowry slammed the ball to the floor again, it hit his foot and got away from him and the crowd got its wish.

Irving missed the technical free-throw and Love split his pair of shots, tying the game 114-114.

“The ball bounced off my foot. I wasn’t trying to slam it on purpose,” Lowry said. “It ain’t like it went far. Coach caught the ball. I mean, whatever. I’ll keep my money.”

Casey was as surprised as Lowry with the call.

“I didn’t think it was a technical. He bounced it, he lost control of it,” Casey said. “It’s not like he threw it down. He tried to grab it and the ball slipped out of his hands.

“The officials are the officials and they’re the best in the world but I don’t think he deserved a technical on that.”

A strange seesaw of calls threatened to swing the game after that, too. After James beat Lowry for a backdoor layup to put his team up four with 24 seconds left, he was called for an offensive foul when his elbow caught Patrick Patterson in the face. Just four seconds later, Jonas Valanciunas was called for an illegal screen on Irving. The Raptors were forced to foul James, who split his free-throws, putting the game out of reach.

The loss came with DeMarre Carroll playing spectator, resting his knee on the first night of a back-to-back. Casey said after the game that he’d have to see if Carroll would be available. They could certainly use him, with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors waiting for them in Toronto.

“We’ve got to muster it up, no matter who we’re playing (Wednesday) night at home,” Casey said. “I believe our guys understand that they played their hearts out. (Now we) go back home and take care of business in our place.”

Norman Powell started in Carroll’s place, just his second start of the season, and had 12 points in 29 minutes, defending James, Irving and Tristan Thompson at points.

“Norm Powell didn’t play the first two, three, games, didn’t get off the bench then gets in the game and started,” Casey said over the weekend. “That’s maturity, that’s understanding, that’s accepting the role and I think that’s the difference in playing the young guys. They haven’t come in and tried to do too much or not do enough. They’ve done their jobs, (played) their role in the situations they’re in.”

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